Testing

PRACTICE THREE

Report: Third and seventh times for Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen respectively in the final free practice for the Australian Grand Prix. The Spaniard took his F14 T round in 1.30.876, a second and a half off the fastest time, which was set by Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes. The German was the dominant force, lapping 1.3 seconds quicker than second placed Jenson Button in the McLaren. Kimi Raikkonen’s best lap was a 1.31.156 and the Finn completed 12 laps, one more than his team-mate.

Both drivers concentrated on set-up work aimed at qualifying, in a session which was affected by a strong wind blowing across Albert Park. Heading from the nearby ocean, it brought in leaves and debris, which made life complicated in the braking areas, which explains several harmless off-track excursions, including one for Kimi.

If you see a Ferrari LaFerrari driven by none other than a talented F1 driver such as Kimi Raikkonen, this is something that you wouldn’t expect to see! After a few laps around track Kimi tried to play sideways with the 963hp of the LaFerrari but he ended into a massive spin out off the track! That’s not all because for the first time you see also brake disks of the LaFerrari glowing and the exhaust spitting big flames!

Kimi Raikkonen will drive for Lotus in the young driver test at Silverstone next week, after being drafted in to help work on Pirelli’s new tyres.

With race drivers being allowed to run on one of the scheduled three days, Lotus has called on Raikkonen to help provide input on the new tyre construction that will be introduced from the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Finn will drive on the Friday, with Lotus also running Nicolas Prost on the Wednesday and Davide Valsecchi on the Thursday.

Alan Permane, Lotus’s trackside operations director, believes that the three-day test from July 17-19 was vital for his team as it prepared for the second half of the campaign.

“This will be an interesting test and we have a lot planned across the three days,” he said. “Obviously we want to give all three drivers the maximum track time possible as well as assessing the latest upgrades to the car.

“Our aim on the third day will be to help Pirelli understand the latest changes to their tyres at the same venue where they most notably had issues this season.”

He added: “Kimi is also allowed to run, enabling him and other race drivers to test tyres for Pirelli. This will benefit both him and Romain by granting us a better understanding of these tyres before we head to the next event in Hungary.”

Kimi Raikkonen says his sights are firmly set on victory now, on the back of the strong start to the season that his Lotus team has delivered.

After challenging Sebastian Vettel hard for the win in Bahrain a fortnight ago, Raikkonen sees no reason why his outfit cannot secure a place on the top step of the podium if it gets its act together.

“The car feels good everywhere we’ve been so far,” said Raikkonen, in a team preview issued on Friday.

“I am here to race and I race to win. That is the target for me and the team. We want to win grands prix. We have a good car and we saw in Bahrain it is good enough to win. That’s the target.”

Raikkonen is under no illusions how close things are at the front of the grid, but he is sure Lotus can build on its double podium finish from Bahrain.

Reflecting on the positives from the Sakhir weekend, Raikkonen said: “I never had any doubts in myself and it is clear we have a good car so in some ways the podium could have come sooner.

“We had the car already in the first three races to be up there, but we made some small mistakes and it cost us a lot. I would have been much happier if we had managed to get the victory, but nevertheless it’s a good result and the team deserved it for all their hard work. We have been good in every race so far, so hopefully we will be regular visitors to the podium this season.”

He added: “I expect Lotus to be very competitive at Barcelona. It’s going to be very, very close between the top teams. This is the only circuit where the teams have already tested with the new cars, and the set up is crucial as the track changes with the wind and temperature. All the teams have updates for the first European race, which makes it even more interesting and even tighter at the top.”

Raikkonen also reckons his absence from last week’s Mugello test will not hamper him at all in terms of extracting the most from the Lotus car.

“We didn’t have any major new parts to test and we don’t race at Mugello so I was not crying when it was decided that I wouldn’t test,” he said. “I know the track well but there was no need for me to drive. I am here to race and that is what I will do in Barcelona.”

KRS NOTICE

Hello dear fan, since the end of the 2015 Italian GP I had decided to take a break away from KRS website, so that means a lack of posts and photo albums. But updates remain on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Sorry :(
~ EvenstarSaima